Simpering silly psycho Sally
Sashayed sassily down Seattle alley
Slimy slithering slugs scurried past
Silly Sally scanned scuttling insect sass
I listened
heard in disbelief
the glorification of a liar and a thief.
I paused in this interlude
feeling the praise was misused
and then I scanned the crowd
blank eyes, minds within a shroud
none shouting truth aloud.
All was quiet
here along the western front
marginalized by corrupted stunts,
the rants and raves
the cowards unafraid;
voices rose
the hail of war unclothed
in hate and anger, no longer loathed
bullets, missiles, bombs laid down in droves,
followed by admiration, praise disclosed.
A haughtiness of destructive force
forged across a liar's greedy course
hidden in deceit by the elite
war in forever repeat
purposes indiscrete.
I listened and I prayed
for the coming of a brand new day
when warriors lay down their blades
rest at peace
beneath the smoke and shade.
I scanned the world that God had made
fearful and ashamed
at the haughtiness of a foolishness of men
who began another war again
always now never then.
i
i
Contest: Pick-A-Title Vol. 58
Sponsor: Edward Ibeh
Date: 23.07.2026
By soft touches, he weaved his way into my heart
Demolished my hesitations and destroyed my uncertainties
With roving hands, he explored my very center
With loving eyes, removed every barrier
Silently he scanned my sacred being
Soothing my faltering soul with velvet murmurs
He broke my pride with his patient perseverance
He wrecked my emotions and made me his
He crushed every qualm with his raging passion
With his stealthy moves, I come fully undone
When I'm with him, the whole world fades away
He has become my everything, my go-to-mate
His serene tenderness obliterated my reticence
And I can boldly say, "I love you, my darling"...
Majestic lighthouse you still stand
Foundations deep beneath the sand.
Of granite blocks and tapered tower
Uniquely structures staying power.
At dusk, the keeper walked the stairs
Along the way each window checks.
With watchful eyes, the ocean scanned
The routes for those who crossed he planned.
From dusk to dawn, bright signals send
This light shone through optic lens.
Then through the day this lens was cleaned
So, through the night the lighthouse beamed.
The sailors would on him depend
For them, their lives he would defend.
But modern days have seen decline
And rarely now do keepers climb.
But stories; many could be told
From memories lighthouses hold.
Of battles won and lost at sea
That only keeper’s eyes could see.
in my backyard,
where they came looking for me
The orangutang surveyed the property
from the top of the garden shed
The jaguar looked bored
on the trampoline
The snow leopard walked
figure eights around
the potted tomatoes
The kangaroo kicked a dingo
and I had to referee
The albatross wasn't keen on company,
so he danced through the sky
as if swinging by strings
The anaconda had already eaten
so, he slept beneath the magnolia tree
The giraffe was less than thrilled
with the greens
growing in Greensboro,
so he scanned the horizon
for something better
I listened to the unexotic
Northern Mockingbirds
in the grey branches
and was happy
Time in Copacabana is an awesome memory.
Next to the South Atlantic, great beauty I scanned.
Like the Girl from Ipanema I was able to be,
dancing with fun waves and sunning myself on sand.
pen
pencil
or marker
chanting your voice
symphony of theatrical locus
orchestra of spherical phonetics
or music box
on soapbox
optics
scanned
melancholic tidings—
optimism asystolic, now
fool’s paradise.
laconism stentorian
saline fluid agglomerating
“malignant” obfuscates,
formulates black stars.
fluttering, clouting
against ghostly pale tile.
aesculapian screams
circumnavigate weak cerebrum,
foxtrotting endlessly,
cold-blooded mockery.
serene bedrest
sinking linen counterpane.
morphing, suffocating
anaemic stature,
tasting like metal.
thrashing abnormal growth
actuate tunnels unending
i feel it.
i feel everything.
head encumbrance,
vessels strangulated,
blue skin a horror.
needle-punctured, scanned.
inhuman study. a specimen,
neglected medical non-priority.
fragile. no mind.
deteriorating. weaker.
sick. morningly.
please. help. ignored.
stained. vomit. pale.
monitor accelerating.
oxygen. chemotherapy.
please. help. me.
i. am. human.
bottom. medical. food. chain.
neglect. oxygen. oxygen.
oxygen. oxygen.
need. medicine.
nurses.
loud.
sonorous.
ringing.
light.
hunger. thirst. taste. smell. vision. touch. hearing.
taste. smell. vision. touch. hearing.
vision. touch. hearing.
touch. hearing.
dont. go.
hearing.
loud.
asystole.
Reading about totems or power animals is enlightening
In one week I will see five deer, or six red cardinals
I know there is a message in these sightings so I research
Cardinals bring messages from heaven; deer remind me to be soft
When I was walking around a pond one time I felt eyes on me
I stood still and scanned the horizon, thinking I would find a fox
But there was no fox, yet my feet were rooted in one spot
A voice was stilling me, willing me to stand there.
I scanned the other side of the pond, feeling surveyed.
Sudden movement on the trunk of a tiny tree took my attention.
A small brown snake slithered down that tree.
My clairaudience kicked in; I knew I was in touch with this creature.
He slithered away, unconcerned, recognizing message was received
I researched snakes that day; they represent renewal, and vigor.
Signaling a new direction, project or career.
I dreamt it in stone
whilst I softly slept
unhurried thoughts
as others wept
exist as one
that is the dream
but the dream is undone
kneeling and wretched
prostrate on the ground
serene and believing
salvation found
by the light of the moon
it's possible to see
the most favoured
most becoming
version of me
I've taken up space
fashioned as ornate
with no way to speak
as a protected state
but thoughts run rife
impossible to still
what bodies can't encapsulate
within the shape that they fill
my bones tell a story
my mind doesn't understand
I agreed wholeheartedly
as horizons are scanned
let me be enveloped by the sandman
lost in a faraway stare
just outside of time
perhaps my purpose lies there
If but one- roomed for
A dim lit shy one's
Quiet corner view
For a heart at peace, so lodged
And so fixedly
A more bless'ed place
What towered, royal
The ancient past o'er.
Facing, what for world's dangers
Scanned, defensively.
Anxiety is my mind standing guard at the door,?Pacing the halls of tomorrow, whispering what if, once more.?It sharpens its senses, on shadows that haven’t appeared,?Calling it danger, when nothing is near.
It builds escape routes from moments, not yet alive,?Practices losses, before I arrive.?Every possible ending, is carefully scanned,?Just in case the future, slips out of my hands.
It means well I think, this restless alarm,?Trying to shield me, from heartbreak and harm.?But in bracing for storms, that may never be real,?Im forgetting to breathe, and forgetting to feel.
Does it save me, or is it part of my demise
Is it right, or just another mask for my disguise
If I can lay the masks aside, and choose to live today
perhaps the box will close, and my mistakes will fade away
Dusk is blinding, but champagne illuminates.
—Poet
Champagne Date at Purple Dusk
Purple champagne and candlelight.
Dusk’s hue through flutes; the beach forthright.
Butterflies; two chairs sink in sand.
Her crescent smile as moon takes flight.
They’ve been beached in gleam of dreamland.
Bashful lashes rise; sea tears land.
Bubbles rise to her nose; she snorts.
The chortle of horizon scanned.
Her twilight eyes - amethyst quartz.
His aquamarines, she supports.
Alas, rough and tumble, this date.
High tide and tension as he courts.
His romantic gesture isn’t late.
He’s new to this dame…and there’s fate!
Lips lock as they’re kind of tipsy.
Friends set them up on a blind date.
I stood with you at your grave,
watching the rain erase your name from the stone.
Your damp face scanned the sky for a trace of your days
as the mournful ghosts huddled round,
sobbing into their shawls of fog. You laid
a handful of thorns on the mound where the grass grew black.
Your eyes were empty of anger. Your eyes were empty
of expectation. Your eyes were empty of fulfillment.
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Please note that I never have used and never will use AI to compose or revise any of my writings.
A random comment on poetry in general:
That which we cannot speak of, we must sing.
Charcoaled by the flickered USG light,
Crocheting living diaries of rose-glazen silk.
Colossal musings bloom through whispered stillness,
Doppler drifts its waves across sea-green marmoris.
A radiological quest through the wisteria of thought—
The sincere scalpel surrenders, a vow stitched in veins.
Cocooned beneath the autumn leaves,
Carrying the MRI of faraway stars.
Sowing scanned seeds in the ebony chambers,
Remember me when it rains on the petals of purgatory.
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